Grade 5 Music

Artistic development at ACS is guided by the National Core Arts Standards. In the Elementary division, these standards are taught in Drama and Dance, Music, and Visual Arts (Art) classes. The standards are divided into 4 key areas: Creating, Performing/Presenting/Producing, Responding, and Connecting.

Curriculum Overview

Introduction

The focus for Elementary Music at ACS is to continue to develop units of instruction and assessments for our four Artistic Processes: (1) making meaningful expression such as performing on an instrument or singing (​PERFORMING),​ (2) expressing personal ideas by composing or improvising music (​CREATING​), (3) responding to music such as critiquing the work we hear (​RESPONDING​), (4) interpreting symbolic expression by different disciplines, cultures, and history (​CONNECTING​). The integration of technology with music-specific digital tools is ongoing to enhance the learning opportunities for all students, “Communicate effectively for a given purpose” and “Recognize and respect other cultural context and points of view”.

All students will develop knowledge of the varied career pathways that can be accomplished while participating in core music.

All students will prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

As a means of having a uniform teaching approach and methodology for core music, grades KG1 - 5, the music curriculum program created by Dr. John Feierabend will be utilized. A national leader in music education, Dr. Feierabend is ProfessorEmeritus of Music Education at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford and is a past President of the Organization of American KodályEducators.

Beginning in second grade and continuing through fifth grade, students begin ​Conversational Solfege Level One1, Feierabend’s curriculum for teaching music literacy. This method uses a twelve-step process developing students’ aural skills, like the way language is taught, before musical symbols are introduced. The curriculum incorporates rhymes, songs, games, and movement activities. This provides teachers with opportunities for differentiation (process as well as product), meeting the needs of individual students and their various learning styles, specifically visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.

Steps one and two are rote learning, or “readiness” activities that have students echo the teacher. Steps three and four involve “ConversationalSolfege” techniques in which the teacher speaks/sings familiar and unfamiliar patterns and the students are then required to aurally decode. These steps serve as an assessment of the skills gained and also require students to use higher-order thinking. In step five students are asked to create their own rhythm and tonal patterns then followed by musical notation.

In the sixth step, students read patterns and music by rote and then decode familiar and unfamiliar patterns and songs (read/sing out loud) similarly as they do in language literacy classes. Following three reading steps, the students then begin to write notation. In step eleven, the teacher speaks, sings, or plays unfamiliar rhythm and tonal patterns for students to write down. The final step in the twelve-step process is composition. They are required to first create their own musical patterns, and then write them down. Students are informally assessed at each step with a summative assessment at the end of step twelve.

Based on this methodology, the Grade 2 through Grade 5 General Music Units of Instruction include all twelve steps of Units 1-10 and Unit 19 of Conversational Solfege, Levels One and Two with 3-4 units apportioned to each grade. In Grade 5, students are required to complete a vocal assessment. Additionally, there is a Grade 2-5 unit devoted to Music and Movement.

Click ​Music At-a-Glance for the National Core Arts Standards for MusicClick ​National Core Arts Standards to learn more about the Arts Standards. Click here to view the What We Learn - Grade 5 infograph. Click here for this year's ES Music Curriculum Overview Video.


Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Singing and playing an instrument are a means of communication, capable of expressing feelings and emotions that surpass the spoken language.

  • Humans are born with an instrument for making music-the voice.

  • Playing an instrument allows a musician to express musical ideas that exceed the range, timbre, and dynamics of the voice.

  • Performing involves interpretative decisions.

  • The music to which one has been exposed influences one’s musical preferences.

  • People listen to music for a variety of reasons (e.g. to be energized, to gain focus, to enhance or alter a current emotional state, to entertain).

  • The depth of musical knowledge one possesses impacts how, and to what degree, one analyzes, describes, and evaluates music.

  • Listening to music evokes emotions, whether or not one has chosen to listen to it.

  • Music connects us to the past, present, and future.

  • The arts connect to other disciplines, personal experiences, and daily life.

  • There are similarities and differences in the arts produced among cultures and across time.

  • Studying the music of a time period can provide insight into the emotional climate and historical and cultural milieu.

  • Improvisation expresses ideas and feelings in the moment.

  • Composition requires imagining, planning, creating, evaluating, and refining one’s musical ideas.

  • Composition results in a work that can be performed and replicated.

  • Improvisation and composition involve guidelines and structure, which may be amended during the creative process.

  • Notational literacy empowers independent musicians.

  • Notation gives permanence to a composition.

  • Standard music notation includes symbols that visually represent sounds, and a universal set of terms that aid understanding.

  • Since music is an aural art form, aural literacy (e.g. listening critically) is an important component of being musically literate.

  • Skills

Students will be able to...

  • Chant rhythmic patterns and sing/play (on non-pitched age-appropriate classroom instruments) songs/rhymes using “ta” and “ta-ti” (quarter note, paired eighth notes)

  • Conversationally decode familiar and unfamiliar rhythmic patterns and songs, phrase by phrase, using “ta” and “ta-ti"

  • Conversationally create (improvise) rhythmic patterns using “ta” and “ta-ti”

  • Read, create and write (compose) rhythmic patterns using “ta” and “ta-ti”

  • Write stems, note heads, and beams properly

  • Perform/respond to music by using age appropriate movements and movement themes (based on suggested movement repertoire)

  • Perform a variety of age-appropriate folk dance movements and folk dances while singing

  • Recognize patterns in movements and their connection to musical form

  • Make connections between movements and dances to other disciplines (math, language arts, social studies, geography, P.E., art), cultures and their daily lives

Movement

Unit Sketch

The movement themes of Rudolf Laban provide an ideal portfolio of movement possibilities. Through these activities children will develop body coordination as well as expressive sensitivity, especially when carefully coordinated with recorded music that complements the expressive quality of the movement.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Choreographers use a variety of sources as inspiration and transform concepts and ideas into movement for artistic expression.

  • The elements of dance, dance structures, and choreographic devices serve as both a foundation and a departure point for choreographers.

  • Choreographers analyze, evaluate, refine, and document their work to communicate meaning.

  • Space, time, and energy are basic elements of dance.

  • Dancers use the mind-body connection and develop the body as an instrument for artistry and artistic expression.

  • Dance is perceived and analyzed to comprehend its meaning.

  • Dance is interpreted by considering intent, meaning, and artistic expression as communicated through the use of the body, elements of dance, dance technique, dance structure, and context.

  • Criteria for evaluating dance vary across genres, styles, and cultures.

  • As dance is experienced, all personal experiences, knowledge, and contexts are integrated and synthesized to interpret meaning.

  • Dance literacy includes deep knowledge and perspectives about societal, cultural, historical, and community contexts.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • Perform/respond to music by using age appropriate movements and movement themes (based on suggested movement repertoire)

  • Perform a variety of age-appropriate folk dance movements and folk dances while singing

  • Recognize patterns in movements and their connection to musical form

  • Make connections between movements and dances to other disciplines (math, language arts, social studies, geography, P.E., art), cultures and their daily lives

  • Define the following terms: folk dance, movement theme, steady beat, rhythm, and tempo

  • Demonstrate awareness of body parts and whole; awareness of time; awareness of space; awareness of levels; awareness of weight; awareness of locomotion; awareness of flow; awareness of shape; awareness of others; student created movement

  • Demonstrate the following: hop (one foot), jump, leap, gallop, skip, do-si-do, elbow swing, kick, sashay, forward, backward, clockwise, and counterclockwise; and formations such as circle, line, and scattered formation

Orff Approach

Unit Sketch

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • The creative ideas, concepts, and feelings that influence musicians’ work emerge from a variety of sources.

  • Musicians’ creative choices are influenced by their expertise, context, and expressive intent.

  • Musicians evaluate, and refine their work through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.

  • Musicians’ presentation of creative work is the culmination of a process of creation and communication

  • Analyzing creators’ context and how they manipulate elements of music provides insight into their intent and informs performance.

  • To express their musical ideas, musicians analyze, evaluate, and refine their performance over time through openness to new ideas, persistence, and the application of appropriate criteria.

  • Musicians judge performance based on criteria that vary across time, place, and cultures.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • Improvise rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic ideas, and explain connection to specific purpose and context (such as social, cultural, and historical)

  • Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms, melodies, and accompaniment patterns) within specific related tonalities, meters, and simple chord changes

  • Demonstrate selected and develop ed musical ideas for improvisations, arrangements , or compositions to express intent, and explain connection to purpose and context

  • Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic, melodic, and two- chord harmonic musical idea

  • Evaluate, refine, and document revisions to personal music, applying teacher-provided and collaboratively- developed criteria and feedback, and explain rationale for changes

  • Present the final version of personal created music to others that demonstrates craftsmanship , and explain connection to expressive intent

  • Demonstrate understanding of the structure and the elements of music (such as rhythm, pitch, form, and harmony ) in music selected for performance

  • Read and perform using standard notation when analyzing selected music

  • Apply teacher- provided and established criteria and feedback to evaluate the accuracy and expressiveness of ensemble and personal performances

  • Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities to address challenges, and show improvement over time

  • Perform music, alone or with others, with expression, technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation

  • Demonstrate performance decorum and audience etiquette appropriate for the context, venue, genre, and style

Performance

Unit Sketch

Students have the opportunity to prepare a performance in front of an audience.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that...

  • Exposure to music enhances our lives.

  • Music requires discipline and cooperation in order to achieve higher level skills.

  • Rhythm patterns are found in music and can be written down so that others can read and perform it.

  • Tempo is how slow or fast music is played.

  • A person’s voice is unique, but how high or low a person can sing determines their voice part.

  • Music can be played with varying degrees of volume.

  • Styles of singing, instruments, and musical scales can vary from culture to culture.

Skills

Students will be able to...

  • Differentiate rhythm and beat

  • Identify fast and slow music

  • Sing the Solfege pitches for the main melody of each song using hand signs

  • Sing melodic patterns

  • Sing harmonies

  • Play instruments

  • Sing with others

  • Perform simple rhythm patterns

  • Sing with expression

  • Identify a change in dynamics

  • Apply teacher- provided and established criteria and feedback to evaluate the accuracy and expressiveness of ensemble and personal performances

  • Rehearse to refine technical accuracy and expressive qualities to address challenges, and show improvement over time

  • Perform music, alone or with others, with expression, technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation

  • Demonstrate performance decorum and audience etiquette appropriate for the context, venue, genre, and style